Google may have abandoned its plan to kill the third-party cookie, but the forces making identifier-based advertising less reliable never went away. The smarter question is no longer when cookies disappear, but why marketers are still building around them.
Tech
Supply Path Optimization improved efficiency across programmatic advertising, but its greatest legacy may be revealing a much larger opportunity. As AI transforms media buying, the competitive advantage will shift from optimizing supply paths to understanding the value of every decision made throughout the campaign.
Rich Communication Services (RCS) technology itself is impressive, but the larger shift is that commerce is steadily moving into conversations, making messaging one of the most important battlegrounds in the future of customer experience.
AI is supposed to help people discover what matters. If it keeps reinforcing yesterday’s sports hierarchy, marketers investing in women’s sports could find themselves fighting the algorithm instead of reaching the audience.
The next arms race in advertising won’t be fought over who hires the most creatives or opens the largest Cannes beach. It will be fought over who owns the technology that powers the future of marketing.
The resurgence of vinyl records, CDs, film cameras, and printed books isn’t really about nostalgia. It’s a reaction to digital abundance and a reminder that convenience isn’t always the same thing as value.
The future of marketing will be shaped by technology. The brands that win, however, will be the ones that remember technology was never the point. People were.